The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities. – Stephen Covey
Have you ever noticed when you are learning something important that the information seems to show up from multiple places? Maybe it is because you are focused on the topic, but it still shows up unexpected? I have seen this several times. Most recently around planning. Let me explain.
The reason I have found success in my 100 Day Strong journey is because I have a plan. I wrote about the List a few days ago. I even presented the idea of the List to my Toastmasters group. What is the List you ask? In short, it is a plan that I have to execute to every day.
I was reading Extreme Ownership yesterday and that chapter of the book was called Plan. In the chapter they discuss a rescue mission they undertook while in Iraq. The hostage was the son of an Iraqi official. The enemy had threatened harm and would kill the young man if their demands were not met. They described the planning process and the execution of the mission. In the end the hostage was saved and no shots were fired.
One thing they highlighted was this, there may be variables and uncertainty, but a well designed plan prepared the troops so that they could still move forward and deal with whatever came up. They followed the plan and were successful.
For transparency here, I am not a natural planner. I used to think planning was the antithesis of spontaneity. So, I would actively avoid planning altogether. Yeah, I know. It was very shortsighted of me. My plan was to dominate through sheer force. When I got hurt, that was out the window and I had nothing to fall back on.
I tried the weight loss thing before. Several times. The last “successful” run I had was in 2009. I had a plan…exercise 3 times a day. That was it. While I did lose weight in the short term, I overextended myself and got hurt. The weight then came back on quickly. So much for spontaneity.
This time is much different. I have multiple goals and facets I am working on. If one starts to slip, I still make progress with the others while I circle back and fix whatever is wrong. It is a methodical approach and has worked so much better. I am losing more steadily and not struggling as I progress.
The plan is working. I will keep executing. I can’t wait to see how far I am able to go.
David Willis 